Europeans Delay Decision on Role Inside Lebanon

The ruins of southern Beirut Sunday, after being pounded by Israeli airstrikes for a month. Arab nations promised reconstruction aid.

PARIS, Aug. 20 — The shaky, United Nations-brokered cease-fire in Lebanon suffered another blow on Sunday when the European countries that had been called upon to provide the backbone of a peacekeeping force delayed a decision on committing troops until the mission is more clearly defined.

Their reservations postponed any action on the force at least until Wednesday, when the European Union will take up the issue.

Haunted by their experiences in Bosnia in the 1990’s, when their forces were unable to stop widespread ethnic killing, European governments are insisting upon clarifying the chain of command and rules of engagement before plunging into the even greater complexities of the Middle East.

“In the past, when peacekeeping missions were not properly defined, we’ve seen major failures,’’ a spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry, Agnès Romatet-Espagne, said Sunday. “There are the bad memories of Bosnia. This time we want the answers beforehand, so we don’t come to the problems when they have happened.’’

In addition, a senior French official said, “Italy, Spain and Finland have raised the same questions as France has.” Following the usual diplomatic practice, the official asked not to be identified. A spokesman for the Spanish Foreign Ministry said Spain was willing to send troops, “but the rules have to be clarified and agreed on.”

Some countries, like Australia, which has placed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, have refused to commit troops. “We have no intention of making any significant contribution,” said a senior Australian government official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. “We don’t have any confidence in it. It is not going to have the mandate to disarm Hezbollah.”

The confusion over the peacekeeping force, coming just a day after an Israeli commando raid, added to fears that the cease-fire could easily break down. “Unfortunately, there is a tilting edge where things very easily, within the next weeks or months, can slide out of control,” a top United Nations envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, said at a news conference in Beirut on Sunday, after two days of meetings with Lebanese officials. Finland, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, scheduled the Wednesday meeting in Brussels, where diplomatic and military experts were expected to address questions that they believed have still not been properly answered.

“We need to know what are the material and legal means at our disposal,” the French defense minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie, said Friday. “You can’t send in men and tell them: Observe what is going on, but you don’t have the right to defend yourself or shoot.’’

In a further complication, Israel’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert, told his cabinet on Sunday that he did not want countries that did not have diplomatic relations with Israel to participate in the force, according to an official in the prime minister’s office. Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh are among the countries that have offered frontline troops but have no diplomatic ties with Israel.

Mr. Olmert spoke by telephone with Prime Minister Romano Prodi of Italy and called on Italy to take a leading role in the international force, according to a statement released by Mr. Olmert’s office. Italy has offered to send up to 3,000 troops while France, which helped broker the cease-fire, has so far refused to commit more than 200.

While the troubled peacekeeping force dominated discussion in Europe, repercussions from a commando raid in Lebanon on Saturday night were still being felt in Israel.

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A Lebanese civilian reacted to the ruins in Beirut Sunday. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora called the bombing a crime against humanity.Credit
Tyler Hicks for The New York Times

Israeli officials defended the risky nighttime operation, which they said was aimed at stopping the smuggling of weapons to Hezbollah and was fully justified, since the United Nations truce calls for an end to the rearming of the militant group. Officials hinted that the Israeli military would act again if it suspected new weapons were flowing to Hezbollah.

“The resolution has very clear directives on limiting the transfer of weapons from Syria and Iran into Lebanon,” said Isaac Herzog, the tourism minister and a member of Israel’s security cabinet. “The directives speak of a full embargo. As long as it is not enforced, we have the full right to act against it.”

Israel gave few details about the raid, and speculation abounded in the Israeli news media that the commandos were trying to free the two Israeli soldiers whose capture started the conflict, or to kill a Hezbollah leader. One such official, Sheik Muhammad Yazbeck, lives in the area where the operation took place.

In Lebanon, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, touring the ruins on the Shiite southern edge of the capital, where apartment buildings were flattened for blocks, called the Israel bombing raids “a crime against humanity.”

“What we see today is an image of the crimes Israel has committed,” he said. “There is no other description other than a criminal act that shows Israel’s hatred.”

The Lebanese defense minister, Elias Murr, who on Saturday threatened to halt the deployment of Lebanese troops to the south if Israel carried out any more raids, warned Sunday that anyone who fired rockets toward Israel from southern Lebanon would be treated as a “traitor” for giving the Israelis an excuse to resume hostilities. The warning appeared to be directed not toward Hezbollah, which he said had pledged to honor the cease-fire, but to fringe groups, particularly those in Palestinian refugee camps.

Speaking at a news conference at the Defense Ministry in the hills overlooking Beirut, Mr. Murr also had harsh words for the Israelis, saying the commando raid showed “the whole world” who was violating “international resolutions.”

While the Israeli military is normally quick to publicize its successes — sometimes even providing videos of the raids through eerie green night-vision lenses — scant details of the commando raid near the Hezbollah stronghold of Baalbek were disclosed.

An official statement released by the army said, “The goals of the operation were achieved in full.”

But in the Lebanese village of Boudai, residents gave graphic accounts yesterday of a commando force, wearing Lebanese Army uniforms and shouting in Arabic, that was chased down by local guerrillas and forced to evacuate by helicopter.

The commandos were from the Sayeret Matkal, the Israeli news media reported, the country’s most elite, legendary and secretive unit, one that carried out, among other operations, the famous Entebbe raid to free hostages held on an airliner.

Lt. Col. Emanuel Morano, who was apparently the leader of the force, put at about 100 men by the Israeli news media, was killed and another officer and a soldier were wounded.

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Diplomats in Beirut expressed fears for the shaky cease-fire.Credit
The New York Times

In Israel, it was widely assumed that the mission was considered highly important and involved something more than interdicting an effort to resupply Hezbollah with standard weaponry. Many of the reports in the Israeli news media centered on speculation that the raid was intended to gather intelligence or evidence about advanced, Russian-made weaponry sold to Syria and being sent into Lebanon for Hezbollah.

In an analysis in the newspaper Yediot Aharonot, Alex Fishman wrote that Hezbollah had been using advanced Soviet-made antitank weapons. More than 10 days ago, he wrote, a legal opinion was written by lawyers reviewing the United Nations-backed cease-fire agreement “stipulating unequivocally” that attacks on Hezbollah weaponry would be classified as “an act of defense.”

Whatever the purpose of the raid, most agreed it never would have been disclosed if the commandos had not run into serious difficulties.

“Nobody was supposed to hear about the secret operation two days ago deep inside Lebanon, one of the secret operations the public is not told about,” the newspaper Maarivsaid. But, the paper added, “the mission got in trouble on the way.”

The daily Haaretz quoted an unidentified military source as saying, “We were really lucky the operation did not end with 10 commandos killed.”

Some commentators described the raid as another black mark for the Israeli military, already under severe criticism for its conduct of the Lebanon war.

Writing in Yediot Aharonot, Amir Rappaport said, “The operation was intended to be absolutely secret and the mere fact that it was revealed and even claimed casualties is proof of its failure.

“The skirmish between the commando troops and the Hezbollah fighters, which was not planned, also displays Israel to the world as though it violated the U.N. resolution. Absurdly enough, the mission that ran into trouble was also intended to allow Israel to provide proof later on that Syria, Hezbollah and Iran were not honoring the agreement.”

European hesitation over committing troops to the peacekeeping force is to some extent rooted in bitter memories of the Continent’s experiences in Bosnia, where foreign troops were not only unable to prevent large-scale ethnic killing but were themselves held hostage at times by the warring parties. Some of the peacekeepers’ ineffectiveness was attributed to unclear rules of engagement and to conflicting chains of command between national defense ministries and the United Nations.

But some critics say the delay may indicate that military chiefs of staff are at odds with their diplomats who helped write the peacekeeping resolution and planning documents.

The United Nations has said it is looking for at least 3,500 troops to arrive by Sept. 2. So far France has promised 200 soldiers. Fifty military engineers landed in Lebanon this weekend and the rest are to arrive later this week. But France’s initial contribution has fallen far short of the 2,500 to 4,000 soldiers that it had been expected to offer. France had also been expected to assume leadership of the entire international force, which was intended to number about 15,000 troops and would join 15,000 Lebanese Army troops in patrolling southern Lebanon.

Meeting in Cairo on Sunday, Arab foreign ministers expressed their “readiness” to contribute to the reconstruction of Lebanon.

“The United Arab Emirates will rebuild the schools and hospitals in southern Lebanon and help remove landmines, Qatar will rebuild the town of Bint Jbail, and Kuwait will set aside $800 million,” said Hesham Youssef, adviser to the secretary general of the Arab League. “This is in addition to the $500 million already promised by Saudi Arabia for reconstruction efforts.”

Marlise Simons reported from Paris for this article, and John Kifner from Beirut. Reporting was contributed by Greg Myre from Jerusalem, Ian Fisher from London, Raymond Bonner from Jakarta, Indonesia, and Renwick McLean from Madrid.

A version of this article appears in print on , on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: EUROPEANS DELAY DECISION ON ROLE INSIDE LEBANON. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe